AP FACT CHECK: Single-payer sounds best when it sounds free

By CALVIN WOODWARD and EMILY SWANSON Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Bernie Sanders has come out with a health-care plan that would have the government provide coverage for all.

He says that’s what Americans want.

An AP Fact Check finds it’s not that simple. Sanders is right that support for the idea has grown and in some polls tops 50 percent. But public sentiment is mixed. Support for the idea drops in polling when people are asked to consider the costs.

Public-opinion research also sheds light on why Sanders calls his plan “Medicare for all.”

People tend to react more favorably to the notion of expanding the popular Medicare program to cover everyone than to the idea of “single-payer” — even if they amount to the same thing.